Online Personals Watch: News on the Online Dating Industry and Business

How Match Group Grew to Dominate the Online Dating Market

BUSINESS INSIDER - Feb 2 - Match Group, which started as one lonely Stanford Business School graduate's attempt to build a less embarrassing way to find love online in the '90s, has turned into a titan that owns nearly every US dating site. Bumble, however, is conspicuously absent from Match's portfolio. Bumble's CEO, ex-Tinder executive Whitney Wolfe Herd, has a toxic history with the online dating group.

History of Match

• Match Group was founded in Feb 2009 after IAC decided to bundle all dating sites it owned.
• AC's initial purchase of Match.com dates back to the 1990s. Gary Kremen founded Match.com in 1995; he left in 1996 with just ~$50K.
• Ticketmaster bought Match.com in 1999 for $50M. Cendant Corporation bought the company a year earlier for $6M.
• During the 2000s, IAC chairman Barry Diller turned Match.com into one of the most successful online dating companies in the US.
• Jim Safka, a former ETrade and AT&T executive, took over as Match.com CEO in 2004.
• Revenue increased 68% between 2003 and 2006, going from $185M to $311M
• IAC acquired People Media for $80M in July 2009, with a combined 255K subscribers.
• 2011, Match Group acquired OkCupid for $50M.
• In January 2012, Hatch Labs, a startup "sandbox" launched by IAC to incubate mobile apps, hired Sean Rad as general manager. Rad worked with developer Joe Muñoz to create the prototype for Tinder. Jonathan Badeen and Chris Gulczynski were hired to help with front-end and design. Whitney Wolfe Herd was hired in May and Justin Mateen was brought in as a contractor. The app was originally called Match Box.
• August 2012, Match Box was renamed to "Tinder" and launched on Apple's App Store.
• By April 2013, Tinder officially incorporated, with Rad, Badeen, and Mateen considered the company's cofounders. Rad served as CEO.
• IAC later purchased another chunk of Tinder for ~$50M.
• In 2014, Wolfe Herd sued Tinder and IAC for sexual harassment and discrimination.
• In 2015, acquired POF for $575M, Match Group went public.
• By 2017, Tinder had merged under the Match Group umbrella.
• In 2018, Rad and nine other Tinder employees sued IAC, claiming IAC purposely undervalued the startup. The lawsuit sought $2B in damages.
• 2018, acquisition of Hinge.
• December 2019, IAC announced it was spinning off its stake in Match Group.
• Jan 2020, Match Group CEO of 14 years, Mandy Ginsberg, stepped down. Former Tinder COO Shar Dubey took over.

by Avery Hartmans & Allana Akhtar
See full article at Business Insider

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Match Group's CEO on Innovating in a Fast-Changing Industry

HBR.ORG - Aug 5 - The speed of change is one of the things I love about this industry. Companies need to innovate constantly - with technology, pricing, product features, and business models - to stay ahead of competitors and continue to grow. I ran Chemistry.com from 2006 to 2008. It was my first general management job, and I loved building the team. We grew the site quickly. As Chemistry.com expanded, the company's flagship Match.com seemed to be plateauing. So in 2008 management asked me to move over to Match.com and try to reenergize that brand. Two important shifts were under way that hurt Match.com. First, OkCupid and Plenty of Fish, had pioneered a new ad-supported business model. The second shift involved algorithms. By 2008 companies were getting more sophisticated about analyzing and understanding users' preferences and behavior. In 2009 Match made its first big acquisition, in the form of a company called People Media, that had a variety of smaller sites aimed at specific demographics. Facebook and Twitter were bringing more people onto social media, which sparked more interest in online dating, especially from older people. The biggest technology shift came after 2008. That's when Apple introduced the App Store. Within a few years that completely changed the face of our industry - a change sparked largely by Tinder. Last year Tinder's revenue topped $800M, demonstrating that many people are willing to pay for features. Right now we're working on several new strategies that we expect will drive our next phase of growth.

by Mandy Ginsberg
See full article at Harvard Business Review

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IAC Just Locked Down TrumpPeopleMeet.com URL

TECH INSIDER - Apr 18 - TrumpPeopleMeet.com is a URL owned by People Media, a subsidiary of IAC. The Trump supporter-focused dating site has yet to launch. Indeed, IAC says it will never launch. "We absolutely have no intention of launching TrumpPeopleMeet.com," said IAC's representative. Rather, it's an instance of a conglomerate protecting its branding.

by Ben Gilbert
See full article at Tech Insider

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Summarized by the Courtland Brooks team

Match Group Could Fetch ~$1.2B From Its IPO

BLOOMBERG - June 26 - IAC’s Match Group plans to to sell ~20% of its common stock this year. The sale could fetch $600M to $1.2B if 10% - 20% of the business is sold to the public, according to Cowen and Co., valuing the division at $6B or more. IAC bought Match.com in 2003. Meetic joined in 2009 along with People Media. In 2011, IAC spent $50M for OKCupid. In 2012 came Tinder which "gamified" the online dating process. "There’s a lot of people that just weren’t prepared to get onto Internet dating," says Mark Brooks, a dating-website analyst and consultant at Courtland Brooks. "Tinder warmed people up to the psychology that it’s not a dating site. Everybody is on it; it’s fun. That’s really the thrill ride here." But free and fun dating apps can be volatile, while cannibalizing customers from such paid services as Match.com, Brooks says. Last year, as the popularity of free-to-use Tinder grew, paid subscriptions at Match fell by ~100K in the Q4, compared with Q3. Now IAC is trying to make money out of Tinder.

by Alex Barinka
See full article at Bloomberg

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Summarized by

Match Group To IPO This Year

PR NEWSWIRE - June 25 - IAC's Board of Directors has approved the pursuit of an IPO of Match Group. Joey Levin, formerly CEO of its Search & Apps business, has been named CEO of IAC and joined its Board of Directors. Greg Blatt will remain Chairman, and Sam Yagan CEO of The Match Group. IAC expects The Match Group to issue less than 20% of its common stock in the IPO, with IAC's remaining stake in The Match Group represented by both high- and low-vote common shares. The IPO is expected to be completed during Q4 of this year.

See full article at IAC website

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This post also appears on InternetDatingInvestments.

Summarized by

Match Group Interview With CEO Sam Yagan

OPW INTERVIEW - May 21 -

In the latest CEO Interview, Mark Brooks and Match Group CEO, Sam Yagan, discuss:

• Acquisitions
• Opportunities in Matchmaking
• The Couples Market
• Mobile Trends
• Android vs. iOS
• Wearable Computing

Please click here for a complete transcript of the interview.

See all posts on Match.com        See all posts on OkCupid
See all posts on Tinder               See all posts on People Media

IAC Announces Management Changes At Its Match Segment

PR NEWSWIRE - Oct 23 - Sam Yagan, co-founder and CEO of OkCupid, has been named CEO of Match, making him responsible for IAC's Match segment, which comprises all of IAC's online dating and related operations, domestically and internationally. Mandy Ginsberg, President of Match.com, has been named CEO of Match.com, with responsibility for the segment's "Core" businesses: Match.com U.S., Chemistry and People Media. Josh Meyers, CEO of People Media, will leave the segment to focus on new initiatives at IAC, specially DailyBurn.

The full article was originally published at Sacramento Bee, but is no longer available.

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Romance Is Big Business At IAC

INVESTORS BUSINESS DAILY - June 5 - In last year's third quarter, Match.com bought a 20% interest in Chinese dating site Zhenai and upped its stake in Europe's No. 1 dating site, Meetic, to 81%. IAC's core personals business, which includes Match.com, Chemistry.com and the People Media unit's targeted dating sites, grew sales 17% to $108.9M, driven by a 12% boost in paid subscribers to 1.8M. IAC's online personals segment is its most profitable business. This month, Match.com will start to roll out the Stir, a service that brings single people together in organized local events. As a part of an ongoing beta test, Match.com has organized 60 Stir events across 10 U.S. markets.

by Marilyn Much
The full article was originally published at Investors Business Daily, but is no longer available.

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See all posts on Meetic               See all posts on People Media
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Match.com Reports Q3 Results

PR NEWSWIRE - Nov 4 - Core revenue increased 15% to $102.5M driven by increases in subscribers. Developing revenue increased 8% to $18.7M primarily due to revenue from OkCupid. Core and Developing revenue collectively increased by 14% to $121.2M. Meetic had revenue of $11.1M which was negatively impacted by the write-off of $9.6M of deferred revenue in connection with its acquisition.

Match Core consists of Match.com in the US, Chemistry.com and People Media. Match Developing consists of OkCupid, Singlesnet, mobile-only products and non-Meetic international operations.

The full article was originally published at MarketWatch, but is no longer available.

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See all posts on Chemistry.com    See all posts on OkCupid
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The World of Niche Online Dating

VANCOUVER SUN - Sep 30 - Specialized dating sites such as JDate.com, SeniorPeopleMeet.com, VeggieDate.org and even PiratesPassions.com allow users to meet their match based on factors including ethnicity, age, religion and lifestyle. There’s even AshleyMadison.com, a site for cheaters. Niche dating may sound unromantic, but details matter when it comes to love, says relationship expert Dr. Terri Orbuch. Orbuch is a psychologist and relationship expert for PeopleMedia, which operates more than 20 niche dating sites, including BlackPeopleMeet.com, RepublicanPeopleMeet.com and SingleParentMeet.com. Over 105K Canadians used dating sites run by PeopleMedia last year. Not all niche dating is done online. FastLife organizes speed dating events in Vancouver such as East Asian Dating, Tall Men Dating and Executive Dating. Justin Parfitt, the company founder and CEO, says speed dating is more fun and efficient than its online equivalent. “You’re instantly evaluating people and figuring out if there’s chemistry. There’s no hiding behind a fake photograph or fake profile,” he said.

by Laura Kane
The full article was originally published at Vancouver Sun, but is no longer available.

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IAC Q3 Results: Strong Revenues From Match.com

PROACTIVE INVESTORS - Oct 27 - IAC revenue increased 25% in the Q3 to $421.7M. Match.com posted a 31% increase in its sales to $106.2M, fueled primarily by organic growth at Match US and People Media, as well as by the acquisition of Singlesnet and the company's venture with Meetic in Latin America. IAC reported a profit of $17.5M, down from $21.6M a year earlier. On a per-share basis, earnings were flat at 16c as shares outstanding were 21% lower. FULL ARTICLE @ PROACTIVE INVESTORS

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Humor And Similar Cultural Background Remain Key To Relationships

BUSINESS WIRE - Aug 24 - A recent Pew Research Center survey finds that a sense of humor and a similar cultural background are the characteristics people value most when looking for a soul mate. According to a survey of 1,000 Americans conducted for People Media, fully three-quarters of the population believe a sense humor or a common cultural background are paramount for relationship success. The other most important factors when choosing a relationship partner are:

    * 45% -- Sense of humor
    * 30%-- Similar cultural background
    * 10% -- Appearance
    * 7.3% -- Educational level
    * 6.8% -- Financial state
FULL ARTICLE @ BUSINESS WIRE

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IAC Posts Earnings

BUSINESS INSIDER - Apr 28 - IAC/InterActiveCorp reported a net loss of $18.7M, or 16 cents per share, for the Q1 2010. That's compared with a net loss of $28.4M, or 19 cents per share, during the same period last year. Match.com revenue declined slightly reflecting the sale of Match Europe to Meetic on June 5, 2009, partially offset by the contribution from the People Media and Singlesnet acquisitions and solid growth from the Match domestic business. Revenue and subscribers grew 8% and 2%, respectively. FULL ARTICLE @ BUSINESS INSIDER

See all posts on Match.com             See all posts on People Media
See all posts on Meetic                   See all posts on Singlesnet

Black Americans One Of The Fastest-Growing Segments In Online Dating

MARKETWATCH - Mar 10 - According to research from Packaged Facts, more than six out of ten Black Americans are unmarried, thereby making that group the most unattached in America. The solution may lie in online dating, where African-Americans now constitute one of the fastest-growing segments of that market. BlackPeopleMeet.com is operated by People Media. Launched in 2002, BlackPeopleMeet has helped introduce tens of thousands of couples, with a majority of members ages 35-45. Every month, the site reaches 4% of the total Black population in the US.

The full article was originally published at MarketWatch, but is no longer available.

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SeniorPeopleMeet.com Introduces Online Magazine

BUSINESS WIRE - Mar 3 - With ~85M baby boomers in North America and ~30 % of them single, there's a lot of prime-age dating going on. SeniorPeopleMeet.com, the online dating site devoted to senior singles, has launched SeniorPeopleMeet.com Magazine, a free online magazine designed to serve the particular needs of singles within that community -- enabling all senior singles to benefit from the latest dating tips, trends and topics that are unique to them.

The full article was originally published at MarketWatch, but is no longer available.

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